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Portraits 



Poems To Marias 

And 

Other Poems 



RALPH GORDON 




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Portraits 

Poems To Marias 

AND 

Other Poems 

BY 

RALPH GORDON 




THE STRATFORD CO., Publishers 
BOSTON, MASS. 






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Copyright 1921 

The STRATFORD CO., Publishers 

Boston, Mass. 



The Alpine Press, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



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To My Beloved Brother 

William Marias Malisoff 

These Poems are Dedicated 



CONTENTS 



PORTRAITS 

Sloppy Liz 1 

The Beard 2 

OldMr.— ....... 3 

A Gossip 4 

A Quail 5 

A Talking Machine 6 

Canine-Faced Mr.— . . t . .7 

Mrs. Far- About 8 

A Dainty Lady 9 

The Lady in Gray 10 

The Hog > , 11 

The Dreamer 12 

Handsome Paul 13 

A Lovable Masker 14 

Mrs. Goriot 17 

POEMS TO MARIAS 

First Poems 21 

Wisdom 27 

Unceasing Melody 28 





CONTENTS 








Dear One 31 


Rainbow of Hope 34 


Psalm 35 


Ourselves Must Be Our Greatness . . .36 


HER POEMS 


The Subway .... 






. 39 


Bach : Fugue 










. 47 


Youth . 










. 48 


Autumn . 










. 50 


The Oak 










. 51 


Calm . 










. 55 


Vengeance 










. 56 


Ode 










. 58 


When the Coffined Souls of Men 




. 62 


Towaco : Sketches 






Sunrise in the Hills 




. 63 


Meadow-lands 






. 63 


Earth and Sky 






. 64 


The Country Road . 






. 64 


Sunset in the Hills . 






. 65 


Symphony 






. 66 


Light of Ocean 






. 70 


World: Wrec 


k: Ri 


ift . 






. 75 



To 
Earl Fenton Palmer 

These Portraits are Lovingly^ Dedicated 



PORTRAITS 



PORTRAITS 



Sloppy Liz of Rockaway Beach 

A HUMAN duck 
So fat her plumpness trembles as she 
waddles. 
An oily, self-complacent smile 
Upon her flabby face. 
She rolls along 

Like a ball of whale blubber ; 
Unkempt, perpetually in semi-negligee; 
Midsummer moisture glistening on her flaming 

cheeks ; 
Each day she rolls her volume past our house ; 
And rain or shine she smiles complacently. 



['1 



PORTRAITS 



The Beard 

A FLOWING beard 
More precious much 
Than child on mother's breast. 
A tender hand passed through its sinuous coils 
Down-curled luxuriant on a well-plumped front. 
Caressed and fondled 
With meticulous care 
Admired by ladies of the hoop-skirt age 
And mocked by none 
But sacrilegious youth ; 
Proudly cradled 
On a haughty breast ; 
And lulled to sleep 
By after-dinner snores, 
It leads a life 
Of comfort and of ease 
Most highly suited 
To its majesty. 



[2] 



PORTRAITS 



Old Mr. 



A SHRIVELED ham : 
Two bleary eyes 
Sunk in a creviced face 
And peeping out 
With dilute petulance. 
A voice high strung 
To thin and screechy treble 
And breaking into whistling 
Gasps and sobs. 
He sits and peels potatoes 
By the hour 
His mumbling jaw 
Accompanying his knife. 



[3] 



PORTRAITS 



A G 



ossip 



A VOICE of honey-sweetness 
Well controlled, 
And held in leash 
Like an all-eager hound. 
A power reserved 
And used with tender care ; 
Each small expenditure 
Made most efficiently; 
And nicely calculated 
To achieve its end. 
A fearful instrument : 
The Voice of Envy, 
And the Tongue of Treason 
Steeled to a sword against whose fatal stroke 
No shield avails; 
Mellifluous, refined. 
Quintessence of a studied kindliness; 
Yet like the serpent bearing in its coils 
The fangs and poison of a hideous death ! 



[4] 



PORTRAITS 



A Quail 

A LITTLE woman, 
Short and plump, 
Togged out in a new suit 
Of Shepherd Plaid. 
On tiny feet 

She runs this way and that 
From stand to stand 
In the Green Grocer Store. 
With bird-like movements 
Peeping at the goods ; 
Until dissatisfied she scurries out 
And disappears beyond the open door. 



[5] 



PORTRAITS 



A Talking Machine 

A RUBBER face. 
The jaw adjustable, 
Huge, heavy, loosely-hinged, 
Elastic in' grimaces. 
Here triteness clothes itself 
In rumbling grandeur. 
And thought becomed the humble servitor 
Of voice. 

Through lips that scarce are parted. 
Petty thunder rolls; 
And men attend, 
And give an anxious ear; 
But should those lips, half-soldered, 
Break apart. 

And outlet give to that tremendous voice. 
How would the world stuif cotton in its ears 
And pray for mercy of the silent grave ! 



[6] 



PORTRAITS 



Canine-Faced Mr.- 



A BOSTON Bull: 
Round eyes, 
A wrinkled forehead, 
And a mouth 

In sadness drooping down at either end. 
A little nose 
Run up against a wall, 
And left forever w^ith a petty sneer. 
This nose held high aloft 
As with disdainful sniffing to assure 
The world of its contempt. 
The body clothed 
In quiet gray, 
And almost a ilonentity ; 
But that caninal face, 
Round eyes and drooping mouth. 
Needs no support of a corporeal frame 
But seems to float upon the vacant air. 



[7] 



PORTRAITS 



Mrs. Far-About 

A HIPPOPOTAMUS : 
A vast amount 
Compactly harnessed in. 
A barrel strongly built 
With girdling hoops. 
No flabbiness, 
Solidity in mass. 
The head 

A slightly elongated square 
A trifle broader at the lower end. 
The eyes, two little things 
Beyond a pair of glasses 
On a nose 
That is as small as 
All the rest of her is massy big. 
Yet her feet, too, are little things, 
And when she walks 
She seems to be a top upon two points. 



[8] 



PORTRAITS 



A Dainty Lady 

4 MINIATURE-FEATURED face: 
Jx A little nose ; 
A little mouth ; 
And little teeth ; 
And little eyes ; 
Beyond a little pair 
Of gold pince-nez. 
A pretty hat 

With dainty clustered grapes ; 
A creamy-beaded purse 
Inwrought with pink rose-buds. 
The tiny feet 
Most exquisitely shod ; 
The little hand's most prettily bejewelled ; 
And quick in motion 
With the child-like smile 
That ever lights her happy baby face 
And sparkles in her cheerful, laughing eyes. 



[9] 



PORTRAITS 



The Lady in Gray. 

A DULL-GRAY street, 
A dull-gray house, 
A window gray with dust. 
She sits and gazes 
Through the dingy pane. 
Her hair is dusty-white ; 
Her face an ashy hue ; 
She wears a shawl of faded, musty gray. 
Her unambitious eyes 
And sagging lips brood on a life 
That once, all sunshine glow, 
Now is long faded from her misty sight ; 
Long vanished into dim forgetfulness. 



[10] 



PORTRAITS 



The Hog 

WITH triple chins in front and back ; 
Weighed-down, stoop-shouldered 
By a mass of fat; — 
On legs that scarce can bear the weight 
Of bulky, flabby, blubber-back, — 
He takes his heavy-burdened way 
From house to auto-car, 
From auto-car to house, — 
His little piggish eyes 
And broad; flat snout, 

Like rooting swine 's, fixed lowly on the ground ; 
His mind, fat- ^cumbered, totally engrossed 
In sweet achievement of obesity . 



[M] 



PORTRAITS 



The Dreamer 

A VOICE of velvet softness 
Gently rising like a cloud of volumed 
smoke ; 
With something of a misty greatness, 
A hazy consummation 
Of thoughts too deep for words. 
An earnest eagerness, 
A tender, shy sincerity, 
Taking keen delight 
In nicest subleties 
Of dialectic art. 

A mind for Beauty and for Truth ; 
Yet lost to Beauty's frankness, 
Truth 's simplicity. 
A wanderer in cloudy atmospheres 
Where glorious sunsets clothe themselves in 
mists. 



[12] 



PORTRAITS 



Handsome Paul 

HANDSOME Paul, 
Most admirably set up : 
The leg, the nose, the hair 
Delectable. 

And prepossessing to the last degree ; — 
One look enough to charm, to captivate. 
But shallow sweetness cloys ; 
'Tis depth of soul 

We seek beneath ingratiating smiles. 
And Paul is glossed and glazed, " 
Enamelled, and embossed 
In figures of polite society ; 
But when the glamor of the surface dies 
And we seek earnestly 
For what's within, 
Alas, we find him 
But a rosy husk : — 
His mind 's a toy ; 
His beauty is his soul. 



[13] 



PORTRAITS 



A Lovable Masker 

DEAR friend, 
We know you. 
Sunshine in shadow, 
Starlight in mist and fog, 
You cannot hide that pristine loveliness of 

yours : 
That sweetness, that frankness, 
That pure manliness. 
That cheerful saneness. 
That soul of yours 
Loving and beloved ; 
And beautiful in clear-eyed candor. 

Would you appear brazen and bold, 

You are quiet and modest; 

We love you for it. 

Would you appear wicked, calloused, 

You are pure and tender as a child ; 

And we love you for it. 

Would you appear world-wdse, world-weary, 



[14] 



PORTRAITS 

There is about you the freshness of everlasting 

spring ; 
We love you for it. 
Would you appear conscious of censure, of mute 

disdain, 
You blush with pleasure at our applause ; 
And we love you for it. 
Would you appear not proud 
To hold celestial heights ; 
Would you come down to us 
In slough and slime, 
How well you fail! 
How gloriously succeed ! 
'Tis we who rise ; 
Not you that do descend ; 
'Tis we who rise 

And with j^ou scale those heights ; 
Then are we better men 
For love of you. ' 



Dear friend. 

We would not have you other than you are, 

Sunshine in shadow, 

Starlight in fog and mist, 

[IS] 



PORTRAITS 

Lovable masker, 

Know our hearts 

As we know yours. 

Love cannot hide its face 

Behind a mask. 

Soul speaks to soul 

Though half the world's between 



[i6] 



PORTRAITS 



Mrs. Goriot 

AN elderly lady 
In a black, faded suit. 
The dark hat graying with age. 
The hair alreadj^ white. 

Her face washed out save for the loving smile 
That all unbidden comes and goes, 
Unconscious badge of doting motherhood. 
She stands before the brilliant-lighted window 
Where myriad-spangled, sparkling evening 

gowns 
Glisten and glow. 

A sky-blue satin fronts the rich array. 
Her weary eyes light up with quenchless greed. 
A rosy mouth ^ to-night will kiss her withered 

cheek. 
Grasping her cheap, old, worn and threadbare 

purse, 
She rushes in with trembling eagerness 
To point her choice to the obsequious clerk. 



[17] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



[19] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



First Poems 

I 

OH, my friend, 
The joy of you has sunk into my very 
being; 
So that waking or sleeping, 
At home, abroad, 

By every path of life, on every threshold. 
Your presence ever before me, works^ 
A peace and a dear contentment ; 
Until I would in thankfulness exalt thee, 
My friend, my friend. 



II 



"To heal the afflicted hearts of men, 
Deep sorrow, long endured, has taught me. 
From out of the lightless depths, 
I come to give them light. 



[21] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 

There in the darkness of night, 
Yearning and striving, 
At last I beheld the sun, 
A glory of endless day. 
Then turned I my eyes and looked 
Back on the wretched, the blind. 
For them is my heart, my mind. 
My soul, my vision of light. ' ' 

III 

Arise my friend. 
And go thou forth ! 
Upon the earth 
The needy wait. 
Give them thy heart 
To find their worth ; 
Give them thy mind 
To challenge fate; 
Give them thy strength 
To succour them ; 
Give them th}^ love 
To banish hate. 



[22] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 
IV 



In the quiet moments, 
When the world is fading, 
And the peace of silence 
Soothes my soul to rest ; 
Then do I behold you 
At me calmly gazing, 
And a radiant gladness 
Glows within my heart. 
I do smile you welcome, 
You do answer smiling: 
Oh the blissful moment, 
Oh the sacred peace. 



Joy is in you, my friend, 

And life, and strength. 

And power to do, and courage to endure ; 

Comfort in sorrow, light in discontent, 

Wisdom in darkness, sympathy in pain : 

A love which compasses round with heavenly 

peace 
The poor, the weak, the needy, the oppressed. 



[23] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 

VI 

Where in my dreams have I met you, my friend ? 

Years and years have I waited. 

How many nights in the lighted darkness of 

sleep, 
How many da3^s in the dimness of lonely 

thought ? 
How long, my friend, have you lived in my 

heart 
Before I beheld the sun given back by your eyefi ; 
Before I beheld my soul soothed and lulled in 

your eyes ? 



VII 



Thou hast compassed me round with gladness ; 
From the stou}^ paths of hatred hast thou led 

me; 
About me hast thou cast a halo 
Of shining peace. 



[24] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 

VIII 

That mind of yours must not remain unseen, 
Sheathed in the scabbard of a blinded race. 
But like a blazing' sword it must leap forth 
To sear the darkness of their sightless eyes 
With heavenly light. 



IX 



Still love and cherish me, 
And I in you will find my lot and fate. 
Joy is not single, but to beauty gi^ows 
By sacred union of embracing souls, 
My hand in yours, my eyes upon your face. 
What power of earth may strive to keep us 
down. 



The world will not ignore you. 

Such a soul as in you finds its being 

Was not sent upon the earth for nought. 



[25] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 

Take courage then, and look into the future ; 
For beyond the peaks I see a radiant dawn. 



XI 



Sacred art thou to me 

As the light of day, 

The lingering dusk, the peace of the setting sun. 



[26] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Wisdom 

WISDOM pure and deep, 
Like a crystal, sunset lake, 
Holding the calm of the skies 
In a cup of gold. 



[271 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Unceasing Melody 



UNCEASING melody, as of the wind or 
waters 
Flows ever from thee, Rare Mysterious. 
Light of thine eyes shall lead me on and on, 
Nearer and nearer, yet approaching not 
The final presence of thine inmost soul ; 
For thou art precious as the heart of change 
Clothing itself each day in beauty fresh and 
new. 



II 



Rare Spirit sent on earth to work us change. 
Despair not that thy ways are darkling, see, 
Thyself, thine own salvation, wins thee love 
As broad and deep as an impetuous stream 
That foams o 'er rocks and caverns undivided 



[28] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 

To hurl its gift into the vast of sea. 
Noise and confusion are thine elements, 
But in thy heart the calm of Paradise. 



Ill 



Days bring- us change as does the blazing orb 
In shadowing motion round the immortal tree. 
But as the foot of shadows holds its place 
Though lengthened flung athwart the sunset 

earth, 
So do we cling to immortality 
And mark our destinies as passing shades. 

IV 

The uov.cr springs from out the dark of 

earth, 
And freshet waters with gayest sparkle run. 
Struggle doth quicken joy, and darkness hope. 
The brightest dawning greets the gloomiest 

night. 
And so thy greatness born of sorrow's tears. 
Will change the drops to jewels radiant bright. 



[29] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Moments of sadness grow to years of joy ; 
Despair is mortal, but divine is hope. 
Nights pass unmindful, blending into day ; 
The past is golden, and the future fair. 
Then let the present tinge its pallid cheek 
With rays serene of full eternity. 



[30] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Dear One 



D 



EAR one, 
Not for one moment let us cease from 
song, 
Lest life blaspheme the interval with raucous 

cry 
On cry of horror and despair ; but let 
Sweet music keep our sacred peace 
An endless bliss, so in melodious calm 
We pass our days, teaching our souls their 

greatness. 



II 



Child, Life knows well to rut the weary road 
Of circumstance with sorrows. Blind were we, 
Then, mincingly to tread, rising and sinking 



[31] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 

In the petty slough ; rather by far 

To walk the reckless heights, making of sister 

peaks 
Our rutted paths. 



Ill 



Broad-visioned be thou ever as the bird, 
Making of earth one splendid harmony. 
And let thy mind include thy nights and days, 
And weave them into shadowy tapestries 
Where joys and sorrows blend as woods and 

lakes 
When clouds of even darken round the sun. 



IV 



Let joys and sorrows be a smouldering fire 
Wherein broods Greatness as a flickering spark. 
Which when the crumpling ashes of despair 
Gray-veil the coals with choking dust of death. 
Caught in the w4nd of hope will leaping soar, 
And light the world with rose of rampant 
flame. 



[2>^] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Death, it may be we shall welcome thee 
When life grows pale, and pines in languid 

mists ; 
But while the fires of sunset and of dawn 
Rage in our hearts, and smiles with tears blend 

gay, 
We '11 cling to life and ride the shrieking blast, 
Laughing at thee, and scoffing at despair. 



VI 



So long have Sorrow's importuning wiles 
Droned at our ears in sick assail of hope. 
That Courage laughs at each renewed attack ; 
And makes grim Death into a lopping clown ! 



[33] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Rainbow of Hope 



BEHOLD the rainbow, how it glimmering 
dawns 
Upon the glassy lake, against the mountain 

wall, 
And mounts into the very sky of skies, 
To fall serene, and all in splendor calm 
Again upon the bosom of the lake. 



So let our hopes, caught in the sun's bright 

ray, 
Glimmer to rainbows, painting earth and sky 
With gorgeous tints of blessed Paradise ; 
And rising on the beatings of our hearts. 
Fall all as sweetly as the rainbow falls. 
And die without the anguish of despair. 



[34] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Psalm 



THE voices of the earth, the skies, the seas 
All sing thy praises and extol thy love : 



Thou are enthroned in the setting sun ; 
And in the grandeur of the starry eve : 

The air is filled with thee, and heavy laden 
With thy full sweetness as of many flowers : 

Thou comest on the sound of dropping waters, 
And in the melody of cataracts. 



[35] 



POEMS TO MARIAS 



Ourselves Must Be Our Greatness 



OURSELVES must be our greatness; cities 
fall, 
And mind and courage topple to their ruin; 
Sorrows approach, and pass, and sink in dust ; 
And hopes blush meekly and are robed in death. 

Greatness of man is as a dying flame 

That greets the dawn with last pale flickering 

glow; 
And strength dissolves as do the fading mists 
Fleeing beyond the frowning hills of night. 

Ourselves must be our greatness; we alone, 
Serene and strong amid despairing souls; 
Ourselves must be our greatness ; we alone. 
Supreme and calm amid the clashing strife ; 
Ourselves must be our greatness ; we alone, 
Unvanquished though the world sink robed in 
fire! 



[36] 



OTHER POEMS 



OTHER POEMS 



The Subway 



I GET me down 
Into the warm, fetid entrails of the lubber- 
ing city. 
The black maw gapes for me ; 
The stenches of intestinal exhalations 
Rise up about me. 

I am jerked down the belching throat; 
Foul gases choke my nostrils ; 
I am seized by an inexorable might : 
Seized, swallowed and swept away 
Down the awful tract of the suffocating dark- 
ness. 



And now all about me : — 

The smell of hot steel ; 

And leather moist with sweat; 

The rank, damp smell of the sweltering crowd ; 

The devilish burning bulbs 

Over the ghastly placards ; 



[39] 



OTHER POEMS 

The swaying, sagging, jolting 
Of the listless crowd ; 
The throbbing might, 
The roaring, crashing might 
Of the iron-muscled fiend, 
Hurling through darkness 
With its clammy load 
To dump it . . . Slush 
Into some bubbling cauldron 
Rank with the fumes of half digested things 
That once were men 

With sunshine jolaying on their wind-whipped 
cheeks. 



Squeezing, grinding. 

Iron-muscled fiend 

Hurling through endless night 

With feverish haste 

Upon the service of thy giant heart, 

That heart whose beat 

A million pulses swells; 

And makes to throb a mighty continent. 

Hurling through endless night 

Load upon load of hurrying menials 

[40] 



OTHER POEMS 

Eager in service to a busy land. 
Bearing them swiftly 
To a thousand posts, 
In shop and factory, 
In office, store, and school ; 
Bearing them hence 
When soothing shades of night 
Have dropped their peaceful veil upon the 
world. 



Bearing the pleasure-seeker. 

Gay of smile and flushed with zealous joy. 

Seeking contentment in the melting wind. 

The banker, plump-fed, rounded, rosy, 

Yet stern beneath his silken gentleness ; 

A feline shrewdness 

Lurking in his eyes ; 

His lips elastic 

To his mind's dictates: — 

Now softly-sweet, 

Now iron-resolute ; 

Now generous as dallying breeze of May, 

Now flintv-hard as is the Crack of Doom. 



[41] 



OTHER POEMS 

The student bu.sy with his books, 

Or preaehiri^ j^ospel 

To a well-trained friend. 

The girlish lady X)rimed and powder-puffed, 

The raw-boned girl trieked up to matronliness. 

The female sloven 

And the genius male; 

The doll, the tailor's dummy 

And the tramp. 

And Mr. Embonpoint 

And Mrs. Far-about; 

An elongated blond, 

A puggy-fat brunette; 

A silk(!n-socked hook-nose, 

Well Adam-appled and blue goggled-eyed. 



Tlie seedy clerk whom polish cannot save, 

Whose cuffs are frayed, 

Whose shoes are out at heel. 

Whose hair is neatly slicked, 

I>ut thin, alas ; 

And straggling down. 

Beneath a greenish hat. 

Upon a pair of ears 

[42] 



OTHER POEMS 

That never hear it seems, 

The tantalizing swish of shower-bath. 

The gangster with his gold and emerald cuffs, 

And diamonds making bright his manly breast. 

And a musician with contented look 

Upon his precious, tender-sheltered instrument. 

The cynic with the gimlet eyes 

More diligent to ferret out a fault, 

Than ever was a saint to save a soul. 

The lawyer smugly conscious of his worth ; 

And ready to dispute a sparrow 's peep. 



The theatre-goer with the Broadway gloss; 
The washerwoman with the weary droop ; 
The factory-worker with her startling hat: 
The vampire of the Five-and-ten-cent-Store 
A dainty lady from Fifth Avenue ; 
And an atrocity of Grand Street's best. 



The aged mother with the sad, sweet face, 
The anxious mother with the furtive look. 
The mannish mother with the self-concentred 
poise 



[43] 



OTHER POEMS 

And heavy hand for childish whimpering, 

The modest mother with the big blue eyes, 

The slattern mother 

All embarrassment, 

Half-shamed, half-proud 

Of her young prodigies. 

The gentle mother 

Smiling to her babe 

And blushing ever 

At a stranger's gaze. 

The mother with the babe. 

The mother with the soldier son, 

The mother with the daughter. 

Lovely both. 

The mother faded in her daugter's bloom; 

The mother rich, 

The mother poor. 

The mother joyous 

And the mother sad ; 

Yet always mother 

Written on the face, 

Or in the first, faint silvering of chestnut hair, 

Or in the weariness of folded hands, 

Or in the lovely depths of peaceful eyes. 



[44] 



OTHER POEMS 

The poet happy in a vagrant smile, 

Or moved to pity by a passing frown, 

Resounding willy-nilly to the love, 

The hate, the fury 

Of the whirling world. 

Men play upon him. 

And his song 

Is but the echo 

Of the passing soul. 

And oft his melody in Beauty soars. 

And oft it grovels at the feet of Hate ; 

But ever are his eyes far-fixed on distant shores 

Where the vast ocean of another world, 

Breaks with a sweeter music than we know. 



All these thou bearest, iron-muscled fiend. 

Through heated darkness of the boweled earth, 

And thou dost vomit forth 

All breeds of men 

That ever looked upon the light of day. 



Thou art Democracy; 
Thy maw the melting pot 



[45] 



OTHER POEMS 

And thou dost mould and shape the perfect 

man; 
For from the stench of Democratic Strife, 
Where Beauty strives 
In mortal grip with death, 
There yet shall rise 
A voice of mighty power, 
And it shall lead aright the Sons of Man ! 



[46] 



OTHER POEMS 



Bach: Fugue 



A PRIEST is but a torch of snowy flame 
Rose-tongued. In vestments white he 
stands, 
His folded hands and eyes remote in prayer, 
Lifted and yearning ever up and up; 
Until his faint, pale face. 
Touched with an ephemeral blush. 
Tapering seems and soaring, higher, higher; 
As when a fire upon a hill-top burning. 
Lifts high aloft and mounts into the sky. 



[47] 



OTHER POEMS 



Youth 



To E. F. P. 

FOR youth, for youth 
Our life we lead ; 
Nor flee from death 
When youth is fled. 
Still life to know 
As when anew 

It burst upon our infant sight, 
A trembling wonder, sharp delight. 
And keen as cold October air, 
Still life to feel 
As a sacred gift. 
Untainted and unperishing. 
In beauty whole, 
Forever fresh. 
Perennial Spring, 
Eternal stream 
Of living waters from the fount 



[48] 



OTHER POEMS 

Of the God of Love, the God of life : 
This gift we crave, this spirit seek, 
This will attain 
Or Avelcome death ! 



[49] 



OTHER POEMS 



Autumn 



To E. F. P. 

IN the Autumn, 
In the Autumn, 
In the freedom of the wildwood, 
Where the wind, unreined, triumphant, 
Drives impetuous through the treetops;- 
I will get myself a new life, 
I will get myself a free life. 
Free as youth to do and triumph, 
Free as youth to love and conquer. — 
Not in joyous Spring's a spirit 
Lusty as the breath of Autumn. 



[50] 



OTHER POEMS 



The Oak 

To N. L. 



AN oak in the forest, I stand, 
Stretching my arms, 
Lifting my head to the sunlight. 
Winds creep, leaves fall 
Through my immortal branches ; 
Steadfast I stand, 
Nor heed the failings of frailty. 



II 



Now breath of the storm approaches. 
Seething in rain and in lightnings ; 
Piteously they bend, my comrades, 
Weak to the gusta and the thunders. 
Lo, as I tower above them, 
Defiant to wind and to water; 

[51] 



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Singing my song of triumph, 
Chanting of strength never-vanquished, 
Vainly they look to me, 
Yearning in all their frail being, — 
''What is thy strength, Unconquerable? 
''Tell us," they sigh, "or we perish?" 



Ill 

And this is the song I sing them. 

IV 

"Of the air, of the sun, of the waters. 
Of the earth, of the illimitable heavens. 
Loving all things, I flourish, 
Embracing all things, I prosper. 
Sweetly the grass grows beneath me ; 
Tenderly sheltered, the sapling 
Twines in my arms its frail branches. 
Leaning and resting upon me. 
Birds in the warmth of love, 
Build their nests in my bosom ; 

[52] 



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Breezes enamoured of May 
Play in my sweet-laughing leaflets ; 
Sunbeams dancing and kissing ; 
Raindrops tinkling and gleaming, 
Hang rainbow jewels upon me, 
Radiant with love and with gladness.' 



V 



This is the song I sing them 

As the breath of the storm hushes softly. 



VI 



The sun is alive in my branches. 

Earth and Heaven 

Smile. Through the glimmering drops of rain 

I look about me. 

Fair is the earth as an orient bride 

Hung with treasure of pearl. 

Glad is the forest. 

Not an emerald blade. 

Not a tender sapling is broken. 



D53] 



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For all who have heard my song 
Stand uneonquered, triumphant. 
**Love,'* says the twig to the leaf; 
"Love," says the bird to its nest-mate 
''Love," whispers softly the wind ; 
' ' Love, ' ' sparkles gayly the water. 



1 541 



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Calm 

To N. L. 

C^ALM, 
J As the wind on the mountain, 
Clear-blowing, mighty in stillness. 



Calm, 

As the mid-ocean billow, 

Swelling and falling unbroken.- 



Calm, 

As the deep-vaulted heavens. 

Serene 'mid the scurrying cloud-rifts. 



[55] 



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Vengeance ! 



F 



LICKERING flame alive in the heart of 



man, 

Crusted, enslaved, begrimed 
With the smoke of a thousand years ; — 
Terrible years and bleak, 
Stretching- in desert waste, 
Years of the gloom of Death, 
And perishing beauty of Life. 

II 

Flickering flame still glowing 

Mid the dying embers of day ; 

Lost in the smoking sky 

And the blackened meadow and farm ; 

Choked with the dust of the ashes of countless 

dead ; 
Buried in ruin of the hearts of a million 

slaves, — 



[56] 



OTHER POEMS 

III 

Leap forth anew, 

Live, live ! 

On the breath of the dying live ! 

On the souls of the dead. 

Live on the turf of the grave, 

On the ashes of Death. 

Breathe in the corpses of men, 

Li the mouldering skull. 

Li tears find thy water of life ; 

In misery blossom to light; — 

They shall not have died in vain ; 

They ,shall not have died in vain. 

IV 

Leap forth and avenge thy dead, 
Spirit of Freedom and Life ! 



[57] 



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Od( 



WHAT men are these who walk the lofty 
ways 
Of peace and comfort and soft-dreaming love, 
Far from the host of men, the darkening paths. 
The heat and turmoil of a maddened world 
Frantic in clutches of a Hellish Might ! 
Throbbing in cruel fear and insane wrath ! 



II 



What men are these Avho speak of love and 

peace 
When hatred sweeps with condor-wrings the 

earth — 
Darkling in sorrow of a brutish dream, 
Groaning aghast, wracked by the pains of 

death, 



[58] 



OTHER POEMS 

Bearing through stifling night a horde of men, 
Whose dull, complaining eyes do dim the snn 
With sighless misery and voiceless grief. 



Ill 



What are these men who drink the light of day 
With soft contentment and appraising glance, 
Sampling the sweets of earth as 'twere a flower 
And they the bee to honey it to gold. 



IV 



Oh blinded beasts, the earth's a festering sore 
And ye do feed upon the blood of men ! 



Oh far enough of sacred brotherhood ! 
And far enough of pretty-lisping love ! 
Enough, enough of soft, sweet, tearful song 
Enough of blindness, cosy, fed and warm! 



[59] 



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VI 



Blow chill Wind of Death from the Halls of 

Hate ! 
Blow bitter chill, Wind, from the aisles of 

pain ; 
Blow, blow with might of Hell, Wind of 

Tears ; 
Drown, droAvn the prattling breeze with deluge 

dire! 



VII 



Strike terror to the hearts of selfish men, 
Blow soothing veils of mist from the sleeping 

eye; 
Sweep into chaos full-fed, pampered lust, 
Plump in the gulping gorge of senile greed ; 
Sweep fierce and keen across the warped 

brain, 
Numbing to chillness festering disease; 
Sweep pure and clear across the feverish 

brow, — 
Oh Death ! Be thou our soothing purgative ! 



[60] 



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VIII 

Cool, pure, and calm we'll welcome thee, 

Life; 
Pure, calm, and clean, and ready for the balm. 
Then in the cleansed air the sacred flame 
Shall burn with purer luster, brighter glow ; 
And souls of men, all hateful robes of night 
Clear shed away, will rise in radiant light 
To greet the dawning of a better day ! 



[6i] 



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When the Coffined Souls of Men 

WHEN the coffined souls of men 
Burst trammels; 
And the flame of revolt 
Leaps high in splendid frenzy ; — 
Beauty shall walk in carnage, 
Justice in slaughter ; 
Power of the Universe, 
Reign, 
Prosper our seeking ! 



[62] 



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Towaco — Sketches 

Sunrise in the Hills 



THe mountains cowled in silvery mist 
Beheld the sun ; cast off their veil ; 
And gave back joyously the blue of heaven. 
Then as the golden warmth of day rose level. 
Upon the little hills, they lightened, blushed 

and glowed 
With Autumn red, f aint-hued yet radiant ; 
As when a bride gives back her husband's love 
In sweet assuaging of his passion's flame. 



Meadow-lands 

THE meadows stretched away to the bend- 
ing sky 
That hung with love upon the couchant hills. 
Up-sloping gently went the rolling fields, 
Till oak and pine stood out against the blue. 



[63] 



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Earth and Sky 

AROSE the mountain wall in Autumn glory 
And on its summit sudden flashed the 
sky, 
A pure and dazzling blue. 
One faint white cloud 
Hung in the aerial space, 
And then the azure lightened to the sun. 

The Country Road 

THE road went winding down through the 
Autumn woods, 
With our friends in the valley and a house on 

the hill ; 
The trees leaned whispering close, and the 

Autumn winds 
Brought voices of gladness holloing clear and 
shrill. 



[64] 



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Sunset in the Hills 

THE sun went down in deepening rose of 
peace, 
Warm with the love of a heart-easing day. 
The moon all-eager came to view the sight, 
Silvery- glowing before her time was come ; 
And all the stars with quickened twinkling 

gleamed, 
Until the Vf est, so honored, blushed again. 



[65] 



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Symphony 



WRITE!" says my Soul, though heart 
and pulses throb ; 
''Write!" says my Soul, though mind in fever 

burns. 
But how to write when Life, a tangled skein. 
Lies knotted doubts, and cares, and cruel 

despairs ? 
''Write!" says my Soul, "until the thread is 

free." 
"Write!" says my Soul, "until it glittering 

runs 
As freshet waters from a frozen fount 
Leap at the first, clear call of sudden Spring. 



II 



So yielding to the yearning of my Soul, 
I give myself to passion sweet of song, 

[66] 



OTHER POEMS 

Which soaring lightly on the wings of dawn, 
Carolling Fate, and Force, and Circumstance, 
Weaves melodies of changing goods and ills 
Into the harmony of Life and Death. 



Ill 



The wailing of eternal sorrows throng. 

And sighs and tears, and groaning, and dismay. 

Shame sobs her doleful tale, and Misery 

In quick, choked utterance of o'erwhelming 

woe. 
Breaks melody with painstruck, sharp despairs, 
And Death lends softness as of "Stifling dust. 
Then muffled Hopes, and Fears in clutted rage. 
And Anger of its own loud voice afraid ; 
And rumbling thunders of insane desire 
Grown inarticulate in passioned sound; 
Defeat, in delving bitterness and discord fierce, 
Frenziedly beating at its own sick heart; 
And Weakness faltering in haltered step, 
Like gasping Death across the frozen snow ; 
Dark Doubts in viperous tangle darting fangs 
Of poisoned treason and congealing love ; 



[67] 



OTHER POEMS 

Lies blatant, or in purring gentleness 
Sweet-droning at the ear of innocence ; 
And Cowardice in pompous bombastry, 
Or pallid with the sickly tinge of fear, 
Scampering silly quick a breathless range 
And choking on the beatings of its heart. 
These come and more : — the bat-winged 

Jealousies, 
Blinded of hate-bleared eyes and slavish souls, 
Fluttering foul about the fane of love. 
And shrieking with the cry of murderer's lust, 
Or pining self-consumingly away. 
Then Pain, wide-swirling with the mists of 

night, 
Leading in leash her cohorts of dismay : — 
Foul wrongs, and friendless acts, and lonely 

days. 
Longing and Yearning bound in leaden chains. 
Dreams lost upon the desert wastes of life, 
And golden memories dimmed by solitude. 
These rise in w^ailing piteous and soft. 
Of their own frailty d3dng fast away. 
At last. Love soothing all to tenderness, 
And sweeping on with pure assuaging grace. 
Comes wreathing melodies sublime and sweet. — 



[68] 



OTHER POEMS 

Of sorrow and the vales of circumstance, 
Of sadness glimmering to the dawn of joy, 
Of tears that freshen all to purity, 
And sighs that herald fresh returning strength, 
Love sings, until the glowing harmonies 
Grow mighty in the triumph of their joy, 
And filling all the vast of sky and earth, 
Throb to the spheres their messages of hope. 



IV 



So soars my passion on the wings of dawn, 
And swells and triumphs on the rising day ; 
Until the dove-winged twilight brings the 

shades, 
And calm of hushing waters, and the stars. 



[69] 



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Light of Ocean 



JIN the gray morning ; 
By the misty waters ; 
When one pale cloud alone 
Whitened to the rising sun ; 
In the gray morning; 
By the blue mist of the waters, 
I lay at the fold of my tent 
Where the light shone green at the dawning ; 
I crouched and endured the cold, 
And thought; 
And my thoughts went not from the ocean. 

Calm and subdued 

In thy faint robes of green, 

Foaming upon the complaisant sands ; 

Lighting their bosom smooth with thy kindling 

glow, 
Thy liquid caress. 
Calm and subdued 



[70] 



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Amid thy emerald waves, 

Though the white foam dances and leaps 

On the curling crests ; 

Smoothly rolling in thy dark-billowing waves; 

Fawning upon the complaisant sands ; 

Kissing the smooth-bosomed sands. 

Reft of the sun-rise of life ! 

And yet thou too, 

Sadly rolling in thy green-twilight mist, 

Unpierced by the rose of dawn ; 

Veiled from joy 

As the nun from the glances of men ; 

Calm in thy misty cave, 

Barred from the golden light, 

Thou whom the dark-blue sky 

Shields from the eager sun; 

Thou, deep-curtained in azure, 

Lapt in thy twilight sleep ; 

Hushed in thy dreaming sleep, — 

Reft of the sun-rise of life ! 

Upon thy misty bosom all the day 

The hazy light shall fall,— 

The slow blue light 



[71] 



OTHER POEMS 

Upgathered from the ends 
Of the thick-vaulting heavens 
Robed in night. 
The joyless light all day 
Shall cling to thee ; 

And on the horizon's brink the purple mist 
Repose in rayless depth of sombre strength. 
Yet not in sadness dost thou roll 
Thy sheen- of might; 
And not in sorrow do thy waters move 
To their recess. 

But calm contentment in thy marbly waves, 
And smooth appeasement in thy glassy vales, 
Nor tumult even in the frantic spray ; 
But all quiessence, 
Motion self-sufficing ; 
As thou wert once 
When shone the infant light, 
So art thou now when far the world has ranged, 
And swept the darkling moods of grievous 
change. 

Oh why is friendship weary. 

Despairing, restless, fearing clouded eyes; 

Why art thou,— 



[72] 



OTHER POEMS 

Eternal flowing in thy clinging mists,- 
Never, never, weary? 



Dark is the light that should have been thy 

dawning ; 
Dark is the sky that must extol thy sunset; 
Radiance supreme might play upon thy Avaters; 
Burn in thy emerald manes with blushing fires ; 
Seeth in the brushing surf that sweeps thy 

beaches; 
Dart in the veiled spray that leaps the azure ; 
Creep in the lavender lappings of foam-tongued 

surges ; 
Sleep in the glowing breasts of purple billows ; 
Flow o'er the vastness of thee, swift glowing 

and dying. 



Why art thou still and contented ; 
Rolling thy calm-curved billow^s;- 
Still and contented and quiet, 
Hushing thy bellowing surges; 
Spoiled of the dawning of life ; 
Creeping to death unexhalted ! 



[7Z] 



OTHER POEMS 

Why is friendship so weary? 
Why art thou 
Never, never, weary? 

In the gray morning ; 

By the misty waters; 

When one pale cloud alone 

Whitened to the rising sun ; 

In the gray morning, 

By the blue mist of the waters, 

I lay at the fold of my tent 

Where the light shone green at the dawning 

I crouched, and endured the cold. 

And thought. 

And mv thoughts went not from the ocean. 



[74] 



OTHER POEMS 

''Behold the shipwreck which is the world. Many 
threaten to sink the raft. Friendship is the raft." 
— Marias 

World 



WHEN I consider what the heart of man 
Is, how at every trembling shadow 
quaking', 
Of every shade afraid; and when I think 
Of this almighty power, this Love the world 
Has called All Great, and set above all ; — then I 
Despair to make these tremblirrg hearts the ark 
And citadel of that divine conception. 

II 

For look you, what a panting thing is the heart 
Of man : how soon engaged, how easily rebuk- 
ed, 
How eager to be wed, how hard to hold; 
How, ever aimless, veering with the wind, 



[75] 



OTHER POEMS 

Not knowing that which most it needs to know, 
Its mastery, and that all-ruling Light, 
Its Godhead, and its ministry of Love. 



Ill 



Yet men deluded, and with empty eyes. 
Or following phantoms of the false gods' mak- 
ing. 
Rule all the earth to frantic disarray, 
And lose their gift in froth of blasphemy : 
False Gods, false creeds, false thoughts, false 

enterprise, 
False suffering, false sorrow, and false sin. 



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Wreck 



BUT thou, my friend out of thy magic brain, 
Hast seen the wondrous spectacle, and 
found 
Colors to paint it for the eyes of man : — 
How all the ocean of the world is storm. 
How chaos sends its plumed darkness up 
To quench the last pale fires of the sun, 
How terror lights the pallid face of man. 



II 



Earth, sea, and sky forget their brotherhood. 
And man his saintship; fellowman his fellow 

man 
Forsakes. Self, hideous growing to itself 
Alone, looks round to ease its hatred. Love 



[77] 



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Debased and shamed stands weeping, veiled, 

and dressed 
In mockery of its name. Eyes hateful, and 
The grasping hands of jealousy flock 'round. 



Ill 

Now power gluts itself, pain suffers prostrate ; 
And ruled and ruler give their blinded ways 
To the winds of night. Sin radiant shines in 

robes 
Of harloted Virtue ; and Wisdom trails its 

plumes 
In dust, and willful, blinds its eyes. What 

power 
May save these men who of themselves knoAv 

not 
The seed, the promise of their brotherhood? 



[78] 



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Raft 



UPON the earth, and in the stormy heart 
Of the world's thickest evils lies the 
seed, its soil 
The love of man, its votaries, lovers. And by 
The kindly air and the pure light of friendship 
It nourished is ; and by the hands of friends 
Upraised, and by them tended. Yea, whosoever 
This marvel has embraced, he blessed is. 



II 



This race of brothers, these to whom the light 
Shines brightest over all the ways of earth. 
Wherever they have met have found their God ; 
Wherever they have dwelt have blessed the 

place. 
And they have girded all their powers fast, 



[79] 



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And they have builded them inviolate Faith, 
And they have left the touchstone of our end. 



Ill 



It is the union and the mighty strength 

Of men who have not lost their brotherhood. 

Of such who are not masters of the slave ; 

Of such who grow not old in usury. 

Of such to whom the light of day is fair 

And glances of their fellows beautiful, 

Of such to w^hom the sacred truth is young. 



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